Wildlife at Penyffordd

 

Mammals: Coniferous woodland provides a "corridor" for shy or vunerable animals, enabling them to travel long distances under cover. Foxes and Hares and Badgers are also to be found in the forest. Hares are larger than their relatives the rabbit, they have longer ears and longer hind legs. They are tawny coloured with the upper parts of their body a mixture of grey and brown. Hares spend the daytime hours in “forms” , these are shallow depressions under cover. They feed during the twilight hours on grass roots and bark. When they are disturbed they will stand up and then dash away at the last moment. The mad hares of March are the males, which bound, kick and stand on their hind legs to box each other in a ritual that impresses the females before mating. We have information about Badger

Birds: The goshawk has become more widespread since the 1980's and can be seen overhead. The crossbill is also present in Dyfnant and breed high up in conifers, the males are quite distinctive being red in colour the females are greenish-yellow. We have information about Black grouse and Red kite

Insects and reptiles: Weevils differ from other beetles as their heads are elongated to form snouts, they have mouth parts at then end of these snouts. They also have antennae halfway down the snout these are called “elbow joints”. The Pine Weevil is a plant eating beetle and is generally termed to be a pest. The pine weevil does more damage as an adult than as larva. When a pine wood is felled the old stumps provide an ideal locarion for eggs to be laid. The resulting larva hatch and feed on the stumps causing little harm. However, when the forest area is replanted with young saplings the adult weevils can cause severe damage by eating the bark and so stopping the sap flow.

How to get there:
The Penyffordd car park for the Rainbow Trails is located on the B4395. You can get onto this road off the A458 (Mallwyd to Welshpool) at Llangadfan or off the A490 (Llanfyllin to Welshpool) at Llanfyllin, taking the B4393 and then left onto hte B4395 signposted to Llwydiarth and Pont Llogel.

Local Weather Forecast (Multimap)

	Penyffordd has parking for horse trailers and cars with five trails running from the Car Park. There are picnic tables and corrals for the horses.

	Starting point for the Rainbow Trails designated horseriding and carriage driving trails with a purpose built car park. The Hendre Pleasure

Contact:
Mike Whitley
Local Area Manager
0845 604 0845
e-mail: mike.whitley@forestry.gsi.gov.uk